Vegan / Vegetarian Discussion - All Things Veg*n Forum

Vegans only or all members for ecovillage?

A group of us is developing an intentional community focused on earth preservation, sustainability, self-sufficiency & mindfulness of all beings.

The original intention was to have an all vegan only member base but welcome visitors who are omni etc.

Now there is a difference of opinion between a few of us on how we should proceed on the member front. We are not sure if we want to open the live-in community to omnis & vegetarians as well.

There are pluses & minuses on both ends, which is where the uncertainty is. Opening the community to having diverse members allows for the opportunity to draw in & educate everyone about the importance of a vegan life. The core of veganism is about sharing your message & educating people, which can be limited if we only allow vegans to live on-ssite. There is already enough divide between vegans & omnis/vegetarians & coming together can be vital. If this method was chosen basic rules of respect would need to be followed & there would be no hunting nor raising animals for food on the property. People interested in eco systems as a whole would be allowed.

On the other side having an all vegan only member base sends a message of what we stand for & the members can make decisions more equally. We would still allow everyone to visit but only vegans can live in the community.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you think it's wiser to have a vegan only member base or should it be open to everyone?

Responses (5)

Keep it a 100% vegan only membership.Everyone will be able to visit but, the property should remain 100% vegan. I think non-vegans will learn more if they see and learn from a 100% vegan community. You know if you allow non-vegan membership they will try to change the rules and since they would be members what would stop them from changing the rules. They will allow non-vegan items in. Where else in the world can you live in a 100% vegan community. I know they exist but, keep this one 100% vegan.

A more difficult problem may be that someone may pretend to be a vegan, only to sabotage the organization from the inside. I've seen this happen, just as one can see fake protestors at political rallies who are there just to break the law and give the protestors bad press.

What good is preaching to the choir? What are you afraid the ominis will do or say? There aren't enough Vegans around to make significant changes and banning "omnis" only allows the site to be insular and one-sided. Wouldn't it be good to know why omni's are the way they are and what drives their opinions? You can't make lasting change ignoring or discounting an enormous segment of the population. Plus, how are you going to know if they're actually vegan or not. You would just encourage people to lie.

I would keep it to only Vegans. People who consume meat or use animal products, mostly don't understand or refuse to make changes as they see to be doing nothing wrong. Especially with religious people, they believe the animals were given to us to use however we like, as we are superior over them...this would be a problem at least with me. I guess that is why I am Vegan, and will always be.

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